Letter-box



(No Model.)

D. HARRIGAN'.

. LETTER BOX. No. 384,154,

Patented June 5,1888.

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u PETERS. Pmlo'ljihographsn wmin m n o UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DENNIS HARRIGAN, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

LETT ER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 384,154, dated June 5, 1888.

' Application filed March 30, 1887. Serial No. 232,985. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DENNIS HARRIGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Boxes; and

I do hereby declare that the following is a full,

clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is a box for the reception of letters, newspapers, and parcels, and it may be used for the purpose of collecting mail-matter for the United States mails and for private purposes, so arranged that the articles to be deposited in the box will be received in a suitable receptacle and deposited in the box automatically.

In the drawings I have shown in Figure l a perspective View of my invention, and in Fig. 2 a side view of a longitudinal section of the same.

Ais abox for the reception of letters, papers, or parcels. bis a cylindricallyshaped receptacle, having a portion of its upper side removed, as shown in Fig. l,and having a halfrevolution upon an axis, a, at each end. For the purpose of turning the receptacle 1) there is provided the gear d, attached to one end of the receptacle b, as shown in Fig. 1, connected with the gear 0, attached to the cover f.

The operation of my invention is as follows:

When the cover is closed, the receptacle has its open side down. As the cover is opened, the gear 6, attached to it, turns the gear d, attached to the receptacle, which turns with the cover; but the receptacle turns entirely over,

so as to present the open side upward, while the cover makes a quarter-revolution, as shown in Fig. 1. The article to be deposited in the box is then placed in the receptacle and the cover shut down. As the cover is turned down in closing, the receptacle b turns with it, and when it is completely closed the receptacle has its open side down, and the article which has been placed in it has dropped into the box below, from which it may be removed in anysuitable manner. The opening 9 may be used for placing letters in the box, or they may be placed in the receptacle b.

By means of a spring or other suitable device the cover may be made self-closing.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The box A, having in its upper part the receptacle 1), turning on the axis 0, in combination with the gear d, the gear 6, and the cover f, substantially as and for the purpose above described.

DENNIS HARRIGAN.

Witnesses:

H. F. WILLARD, CHAS. H. DREW. 

